Wallow in weird and wonderful Warhol

By Wang Jie  |   2008-8-8  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

IF you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings, films and me, and there I am. There is nothing behind it." Thus spake Andy Warhol (1928-87), the king of pop art.

Now there's a chance to know a lot about the pop icon through an exhibition of 70 of his limited editions of silkscreen prints and offset lithographs at Shanghai Sculpture Space. Warhol would have appreciated the venue, a renovated steel plant.

Nearly all the works are on loan from private collectors in Europe and the United States, according to the organizers, Shanghai Red Town Culture Development and Art+Shanghai gallery.

"Our venue that was renovated from an old industrial steel plant resonates well with Warhol's spirit, and it is much better to hang his pieces here than in some official museums and galleries," says Crystal Wang, operations director of Shanghai Sculpture Space

Outside, the sloping grass lawn is dotted with sculptures of a girl lying down, a house and a brick automobile - a bit of an oasis on hectic Huaihai Road W.

Inside the space, vestiges of industry are everywhere, stone stairways remain and the two-story-high ceiling is breathtaking. Visitors are caught up in Warhol's pop art world as they check out the works and listen to pop.

"The purpose of this show is to bring variety to the city's art scene, and we want to see every visitor 'high' on the site," says Wang.

Roy Lichtenstein (1923-97), Claes Thure Oldenburg and Warhol are among the most prescient of post-modernist artists.

Warhol was unchallenged as the king of pop art, and he used his many talents to turn his own life into a work of pop art.

He appropriated images of Campbell's Soup, Coca-Cola, detergents and celebrities such as Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor.

"We got approval from the publishing house to have copies of his famous 'Marilyn Monroe' for this exhibit, as they are too famous to be ignored."